Photo Altered Because of Obscene Gesture

Prep Football: Photo raises a furor in Carroll
BY KEVIN WHITE, OMAHA WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER.

Three Carroll High School football players face a one-game suspension for making what the school has deemed obscene hand gestures in a team photograph. The decision prompted one boy’s father to resign as a booster club president and left the local newspaper explaining its decision to publish an altered version of the photo. The controversy comes the week Carroll High is to play cross-town rival Carroll Kuemper. The photo, taken by the Carroll Daily Times Herald, appeared Monday in the newspaper’s fall sports preview section. The newspaper “blurred” four players in the photo, three of whom were making similar hand gestures and a fourth whom the newspaper judged not to be acting in a “respectable manner.” The fourth player was not suspended from playing. Every player on the team, including those obscured, was identified by name below the photo.

An editor’s note followed: “The above photo has been altered to remove hand gestures displayed by four members of the team. While we considered not publishing the photo, we felt it was not fair to the 51 young individuals who conducted themselves in a respectable manner.” In explaining her decision to run the altered photo, Ann Wilson, general manager and co-owner of the Daily Times Herald, said Monday that the players’ action “was disrespectful to the team, to us and to women, which means mothers, sisters and girlfriends.”

“Why cover it up?” she asked. “I think young people need to learn to take responsibility for their actions.” On Tuesday she added that the paper would have handled any gesture, including one not considered offensive, the same way. “Any gesture would be considered inappropriate, whether it’s a thumbs-up or anything,” she said. “If it happens again, we’d do it the exact same way.” On Monday, Wilson said she strongly opposed shooting the photo again, citing an unwillingness to take up more of the team’s time, as well as the newspaper’s time and resources. – more

Vanity Fair Cover Update

From one of my recent posts I talked about Vanity Fair magazine’s recent covers (20 different covers to be exact) that are touted by the editors as “historic.” Yet only two of the Annie Leibovitz covers are real, the other 18 were Photoshopped in post production. After checking the actual magazines there is nothing that states the “historic” covers are actually illustrations. In fact, for the most part you are led to believe that these people actually came together in each scene. In the print version of the magazine the film markers are even showing, even further emphasizing that these are “real” images. Only the subjects of two covers, President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Alicia Keys and Iman, were photographed together.

What the Duck 25

One of my favorite WTD strips

Photojournalists Strike Update

An agreement between The Sun of Baltimore and the Newspaper Guild was passed by the union members by voice voice Thursday night. The union has agreed to a the provision that would require reporters to take photos, but only with some type of training, training that has not been specified by either side. According to a story by Editor & Publisher’s Joe Strupp, “Guild officials had objected to the proposal, with 140 members even signing a petition against it on Wednesday. The new deal requires that any staffer forced to work as both a reporter and photographer have proper training. ‘They have to provide that training,’ said Bill Salganik, President of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild. ‘It makes us feel we’ve got to keep an eye on it, but it is a protection. We all want a quality product.’ Sun spokeswoman Linda Yurche called the photographer/reporter provision “a positive thing for everyone.”

Photojournalists Strike

From the Newspaper Guild:

Sun photojournalists launch byline strike

Eighteen Baltimore Sun photojournalists launched a byline strike today protesting Tribune Co.’s move to force reporters to become photographers and videographers as a way to cut costs.

If Chicago-based Tribune has its way, reporters at The Sun, with little or no experience in photography, will not only be required to shoot still pictures, but take pictures with video cameras for submission to the paper’s website while they are conducting interviews and writing stories on deadline.

“Combining jobs and forcing reporters with limited experience to take videos and still shots will compromise the quality of The Sun,” said Cet Parks, Chief Negotiator for the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild. “This is another misguided step by Tribune and clear evidence that the company will compromise quality to save a buck. What Tribune fails to see is that when quality suffers advertisers will spend their money elsewhere.”

In protest Sun photojournalists will withhold their bylines from pictures they take from June 11- 13. The photojournalists along with two photo editors and three technicians sent a letter to Sun Editor Timothy Franklin on June 7 expressing concern that quality will be compromised if the paper moves aggressively in this direction. - more

Censoring the Student Press

The Illinois House and Senate have passed legislation, now under review by the governor, to protect student journalists at public colleges from administrative censorship, the Chicago Tribune reported. The legislation — similar to a measure enacted in California — is designed to reverse the impact of a 2005 federal appeals court ruling involving the paper at Governors State University, in Illinois. Inside Higher Ed

Historic & Manipulated

Vanity Fair magazine’s recent covers (20 different covers to be exact) are touted by the editors as “historic.” Yet only two of the Annie Leibovitz covers are real, the other 18 were Photoshopped in post production.

My problem is with the word “Historic” being used to describe the images and the covers. While the covers are well done (what do you expect from Annie Leibovitz) they are hardly historic. Historic would have been to have all the subjects together and having a dialogue during the shoot. It will be interesting to see how Vanity Fair words the image description for each cover. Will the word “illustration” appear?

The idea by guest editor Bono of U2 fame was to create a visual link of important actors involved in advocating for the African continent. Muhammad Ali, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Barack Obama, George Clooney, Madonna, Brad Pitt and Desmond Tutu are just a few of the famous faces on the covers. Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts of the Washington Post quote Leibovitz as saying, “These are more photo illustrations than photographs, but the point was to unite people for a common purpose.” Leibovitz traveled the world to track everyone down and get the singular images that would later be combined. Only the subjects of two covers, President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Alicia Keys and Iman, were photographed together.

Men’s Fitness and Andy Roddick

When Men’s Fitness magazine “beefed” up Andy Roddick’s arms in a recent cover they crossed an ever increasing grey line (for some) of digitally manipulated cover art. I believe there is no distinction between what Men’s Fitness did and what recent photojournalists did, deceiving the public. Publishers believe they are doing the right thing when presenting cover “art.” But where do we draw the line?

From Roddick’s BLOG: I spent the last few weeks in Austin really focused on my training and getting back into shape…but pretty sure I’m not as fit as the Men’s Fitness cover suggests…little did I know I have 22 inch guns and a disappearing birth mark on my right arm. I saw the cover for the first time when I landed after Rome…it was pretty funny…I walked by the newsstand in the airport and did a total double take …I can barely figure out how to work the red-eye tool on my digital camera…whoever did this has mad skills.

DN